Joe, Dog Rain Coats, and Champleve

Joe: As a very fine young British director, James McRettin (John Cleese) says on the set of 20th Century Vole’s latest epic 'Scott of the Antarctic', “This film is basically pro-humanity and anti-bad things”. We got the word this Wednesday that Joe’s MRI films showed a lot of pro-humanity and anti-bad things. In fact, there were absolutely no bad things on the MRI at all. We drank to Joe’s health that night, and the next night and the next night and the next night ...

Practical Dog Fashion: I broke out Coney’s Fido Fleece rain coat on rainy Thursday and left a note for her “au pair”, Barb, about it. Barb thought it was the bees knees and took some pictures of our fashion plate. If she can have pics, so can you. Here’s one I took a while back:

Pretty Pins: You say cloisonne, I say champleve. Let’s call the whole thing off and call it enameling*. That’s what Bill Spear does. He creates beautiful pins of realistic birds, dogs, foxes and lots of other things. Peaceable Kingdom on Main St. in Ann Arbor has a selection of them or you can order them from the W. M. Spear website:
http://wmspear.com/catalog.php

* Cloisonne (derived from the French word for partition) is an enamel where the lines which divide the different patches of fields are composed of metal wire secured to the ground, often copper. Champleve is an enamel in which the ground is engraved or scooped out to receive the enamel. W. M. Spear creates a steel die to make the copper ground. Here’s a link to the description of their process:
http://wmspear.com/process.php

Joe, St. Pat's Day, Dog Historic Marker, Like Camping, Pandora

Joe: Things are moving right along. To work in the Z. Home from work in the Z. An occasional detour to St. Joe’s for a diagnostic MRI or two.

St. Patrick’s Day Hoo Ha: In the early 70’s, the only place you could get a drink on St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin was at the dog show. Things have livened up since then. Read all about it:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E0DA153DF934A25750C0A9679C8B63

I treated the G35 to a car wash on Monday. I went for the premium wash since it was the same price as a regular wash. They squirted blue gunk and yellow gunk on the car (what is that stuff?!), added water and guess what! You have green gunk for a perfect St. Patrick’s Day car wash!

Make Your Own Dog Historic Markers: I inadvertently made my own Dog Historic Marker this week (see 2/24/08 entry). I pulled out the dog treat bag while on my neighbor’s sidewalk. It had a hole in it, so it was, “Every time it rains it rains Kibble from heaven...”. Coney and I check out this spot every day now.

Just Like Camping: Had a nice chat with Jim at the water treatment plant on Saturday morning after getting an automated alert about a water main break that affected our neigborhood. We had a precautionary boil water which felt just like camping. 1855 is a very comfy camper van.

Paean to Pandora: Try pandora.com, the window into the Music Genome Project that let’s you listen to and create music channels full of music you like for free. I love it. You will, too:

http://pandora.com/

Joe, Lavender Larry, and Math & Science News

Joe: Here’s a picture of Joe’s triumphal return to work:

and here’s a link to a larger version so you can wonder at details like the guy in the front seat and those oxen tailgating on US 23:

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/citd/RussianHeritage/6.PG/SCMEDIA/4.6.Celebration.gif

Lavender Larry: After seeing the Multipet plush “Loofa Dog” featured on Puppy Bowl IV, I knew Coney needed one. In fact, I knew she needed two. The blue one is being held in reserve, but Lavender Larry is on active duty. Larry is 18” long (they’ve got a jumbo 24” pup now!) and is the perfect recall companion. Coney brings Larry back and forth to Joe and me for our evening recall practice. The squeaker in da rear emits a pleasant honk, the bod bends as necessary to get through tight spots and that smile can’t be beat. An end-to- end favorite.

Math and Science News: March isn’t just for ides or St. Patrick’s Day anymore. I don’t know how I could have missed knowing about Pi Day, 3/14 ... 3.1415926535... There’s a website, of course, piday.org. We celebrated with pie, of course, Achatz Michigan Four Berry, available at Produce Station. We’ve been celebrating a lot with pie lately. “Why is you so obsessed with thoughts of pie?”

The moon of Saturn called Enceladus is getting a lot of attention from the Cassini cameras because it has a cool geyser of icy particles shooting out at 800 mph from its south pole. Cool! Go Cassini! Go!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/science/space/13plumew.html?ref=science

Cute Canids, etc.

Joe: Everything is fine. Well, actually, we’re both really tired of winter, but we’re coping by eating Chef Joe’s Marvelous Meals (like chevre tarts and pork medallions with sweet pepper salsa) and being part of the Netflix Nation. We’re almost finished watching the entire Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett as da man.

Cute Canids: Joe sent me this link with wonderful pics of red wolves (canus rufus):

http://www.fws.gov/alligatorriver/red%20wolf/rwpics.html

The pictures alone make it clear to me why we would want to restore the endangered red wolf population, but here is a FAQ response to why the US Fish and Wildlife Service is doing this: "The essential reasons are to prevent extinction of the species and to restore the ecosystems in which red wolves occurred, as mandated by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. The ESA found that endangered and threatened species are of aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value to the Nation and its people. It is important to save all members of an ecosystem, including predators, if we intend to conserve the environment and be good stewards of the land. Lessons learned in the red wolf recovery program have served as a model for predator conservation worldwide." Wouldn’t it be nice to be of “aesthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value”? The “recreational” and “scientific” parts scare me a little.

Music Notes: My Infiniti G35 is really just a beautiful Sirius radio entertainment center. I love being able to see the name of music I’ve known for years, but didn’t know the name. Like Pilgrims’ Chorus from the Tannheuser opera by Wagner. So, who was Tannheuser and what’s up with this chorus? Tannheuser was a German Minnesänger (a troubadour) and poet who lived in the 13th century and is known through his poetry and in legend. The 1845 opera dramatizes the legend which goes like this: Tannheuser finds the goddess Venus in her underground, undisclosed location called Venusberg and hangs out with her there for a year. Since this is all about sacred and profane love, (i.e., loving Mary, the Mother of God = Good Lovin’ and loving Venus = Bad Lovin’), Tannheuser leaves Venus full of remorse. He travels to Rome to ask the pope for absolution. The pope replies with the medieval equivalent of “when pigs fly”, namely it’s about as likely as his papal staff sprouting leaves. Well, guess what happens three days after Tannheuser leaves the pope, theoretically still full of remorse? Pigs fly and the pope’s staff sprouts. Messengers try to find our remorseful fellow, but he’s already taken the express back to Venusberg, never to be seen again. Poor thing. There are pilgrims going back and forth to Rome all day long. I don’t know what they’re singing in the Pilgrims’ Chorus, but it is undoubtedly sacred and certainly nice sounding.

Dog Bootie Redux, etc.

Joe: Still moving in the right direction. Like Spring, we’ll get there eventually. Joe made the most wonderful braised rabbit this week. Very tasty after a chilly dog walk (Coney thought so, too).

Coney Dog Sets Fashion Trend: You read it here first (see Iditarod Dog, etc. 2/10/08). Blue dog booties are the rage around the world, especially in Duesseldorf, where police dogs need to protect their feet against nasty bits of glass caught in the cobblestone streets.

Here's Coney Dog sporting her footwear:

and here's a Duesseldorf doggie:

Here's the description from an AP article found on Yahoo:

A police officer puts on shoes for his dog in this undated photo provided by police in Duesseldorf, western Germany, on Monday Feb. 25, 2008. Police dogs in the western German city of Duesseldorf will no longer get their feet dirty when on patrol: The entire dog unit will soon be equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes, officials said Monday. 'All 20 of our police dogs, German and Belgian shepherds, are currently being trained to walk in these shoes,' Andre Hartwich said. 'I'm not sure they like it, but they'll have to get used to it.' The unusual footwear is not a fashion statement but rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. (AP Photo/Polizei Duesseldorf)

Of course, the Iditarod dogs have been wearing booties for years and they’re at it again. Today is Day 2 of the race.

Music Notes: I didn’t realize what a big deal Van Cliburn’s victory at the first International Tchaikovsky Competition, in Moscow on Apr. 14, 1958, was. I enjoyed listening to him speak with Scott Simon on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87771963

There are lots of audio links on this page in addition to the interview, but I especially liked “How Van Cliburn Took Moscow” by Sara Fishko (scroll down near the bottom).

And, for you movie music buffs, don’t miss Andy Trudeau’s annual review of Oscar movie music:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19251328